Moisture Influence on Reliability and Electrical Characteristics of SiOC:H Low-k Dielectric Material

This paper presents an in depth study of the moisture influence on reliability and electrical characteristics of SiOC:H low-κ dielectric material. Firstly, TDDB models have been evaluated on material without moisture and Impact Damage model is found to be the most accurate for lifetime estimation. Then, various characterization techniques reveal that moisture provokes a significant decrease of the Time-to-breakdown (TBD) together with major modifications of conduction and breakdown mechanisms. Finally, results suggest that material polarizability modification might play a role in the evidenced premature breakdown.